By/Por Barry L. Frager The Frager Law Firm P.C.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was implemented on June 15, 2012 and USCIS started taking in applications for DACA in August of 2012. As of today, there are approximately 530,000 DACA recipients in the United States. USCIS is currently accepting new, first time DACA applications for people that have never had DACA (or DACA recipients that let their status lapse for more than a year) and are eligible.
However, USCIS is not adjudicating these new, first-time applications nor are they approving work authorization applications based on these new applications. These “new” applications are all currently pending until there is a policy change regarding what to do with these applications. For those people that currently have DACA, a common way to lose DACA and to not be eligible to renew their work authorization under DACA is to drink and drive.
Our office represents a large number of DACA recipients and also receives calls from people that have questions regarding their DACA. When a person with DACA is arrested for drinking while driving, our office receives the call with questions regarding how this arrest will affect the individual’s DACA status. Once a person is arrested and charged with drinking and driving, that person needs to immediately contact their immigration attorney who is assisting them with DACA.
We often have individuals contact us after they have pled guilty to the DUI and at that point, there is no.
